But just one day after attending the funeral for his grandfather, John, back in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, Rangers defenseman Marc Staal was back in the lineup for Saturday night’s 6-1 win over the Sabres at the Garden.

“It was an emotional couple days,” said Staal, who was as assertive as always in his 18:50 of a blowout win. “But he was 88, lived a really good life. He was one of our biggest fans, so it was nice to be home for my mom and to be with my family for those couple days.”

Before warmups, Staal had not skated since Wednesday’s New Year’s Eve win in Florida. He flew home on Thursday, they had the funeral on Friday, and then he flew back to New York on Saturday morning.

Coach Alain Vigneault said before the game Staal was “a game-time decision,” yet that’s not exactly the way Staal looked at it.

“I was flying in this morning with the expectation of playing,” he said. “Didn’t feel good. But I fought through it. This type of game, from my standpoint, is just what I needed.”

Staal staying in the lineup meant John Moore remained a healthy scratch on the back end for the second straight game. Moore now has sat for six of the past eight.

Taking his spot was Matt Hunwick.

Forward Tanner Glass was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. Glass got his first non-illness-related scratch on Wednesday in Florida, having played 29 of the first 34 games, missing three games with the mumps and one after that when he returned prematurely.

With Glass out, Vigneault kept the struggling Lee Stempniak on the fourth line next to Dominic Moore and J.T. Miller, while 23-year-old Swede Jesper Fast played on the third line with Kevin Hayes and Carl Hagelin.

One of the six All-Stars voted on by the fans was at the Garden, and it was little-known Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons. The 20-year-old Latvian had the full support of his small country, finishing first in the balloting with 1,574,896 votes. He joins five Blackhawks as the first six — forwards Patrick Kane and J onathan Toews; defensemen Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith; then goalie Corey Crawford.

The rosters for the big Latvia-Blackhawks tilt — or the All-Star game — will be flushed out by NHL front offices and announced Jan. 10. The game will be played Jan. 25 in Columbus, Ohio.